Cheshire in Jail
by NightHunterDeath
Summary: Tick. Tock. The Cat chased the clock. Three. Four. Lock up your doors. Run around the dead bodies, pocket full of blood. Ashes to ashes, your gonna fall down. MarcoxFem!Luffy DifferentDevilFruit!Luffy Smart!Strong!Luffy WhitebeardPirate!Luffy Alive!Ace Full summary inside
1. Prologue: Six Levels Under

_**THIS HAS BEEN RE-WRITTEN (Its stil on the same story, but I've re-written it here)**_

**One Piece: A Cheshire in Jail**

**Summary: Monkey D. Luna (fem!Luffy) was brought to Impel Down when she was eight after the marines had discovered who she was. Ten years later after being subjected to the humanity of humans and of the insanity of her own mind that has created for herself, she finally gets a cellmate.**

**Her brother, Portgas D. Ace, who execution is in one month.**

**Patience has become a virtue of hers, and it's about to pay off.**

**The world is going to have to face the one they were so scared of so many years ago. And now that's she free, she'll have to adjust to her new life, finding a path that seems broken and shattered to her eyes.**

**Warning: If I ever use the name Luna again (I have, I just haven't put the story up), know that they have no connect to the other unless I say so.**

**Tags: Different Devil Fruit Fem!Luffy MarcoxLuffy MarcoxFem!Luffy Alive!Ace Alive!Whitebeard Powerful!Smart!Broken!Luffy Spoiler Alert AU**

**If I owned anything besides my OCs and own ideas, do you think this would be on FANfiction. net?**

**Prologue: Six Levels Under**

It wasn't that she didn't understand what had happened. She knew very well what had happened. She just didn't know _how_ it happened. It had been a normal day for her, training with her grandpa. Every three months she would be forced to separate from her brothers and go to strange islands her grandfather had picked out in the time he was away. There she would be forced to survive on her own power without any help from the outside world.

She usually got out with minimal injuries, a few scratches here and there to show that she wasn't wasting her time and she actually had to _fight _to live. It would have been pointless if she didn't even get challenged. It was a waste of time if she wasn't getting stronger. She wouldn't have bothered to go.

She didn't have to go in the first place, not really any ways. She choose to go, chose to be the one he took along with him. Her brothers were the main options, but they were strong, they were super strong in her eyes, but they weren't strong enough for the sea. They had never left the island. She had. She left numerous times, having been shipped from place to place.

Her brothers, her treasure, were not ready for the Grand Line islands. She was, and Gramps knew it too. That was why she allowed her to go, after all. If she wasn't strong enough no amount of begging would allow her to be shipped off instead.

She never told them this though, having fought her point with the old man behind closed doors when they were asleep.

The islands she was sent to were not normal by any means of a civilian's perspective. The plant life ate mammals and the animals were bigger than normal, always out to get her as if they were under command. Everywhere she went there were dangers and she never allowed herself to let her guard down until she was back in the forest of Goa. She was grateful for these trips though, knowledge was something she prized herself on and with going to place to place she gained a lot of experience that her brother's lacked.

She would need it, after all.

Contrasting to popular belief, she had not always been in her grandfather's custody. Since she was born and until she was five she was within her father's care, being loved and trained by him as if there was nothing else in this world he would rather do. Father had dotted on her, and though he had a firm hand on her personality and attitude, he trained her in everything he knew. Dragon knew of the dangers that came with being his daughter, knowing he would make the most wanted list in a matter of years. He couldn't be there always to protect her. She had to learn to protect herself.

She was six when her custody changed hands, Dragon about to do something that he couldn't risk even a chance to be seen with her for fear she too would be hunted down. With little choice of relatives to send her to, he decided to send his only child to his father in which she had never met. The first time she had met him he brutally threw her into training, determined to make her into a marine. She appreciated the training, and blocked out all the preaching of marines and how good they were.

It was a trip to one of these very islands that everything changed. It had started off normal, but then the second day came around and nothing would be as it was again. She didn't think it could even be remotely fixed to the way it had been.

Someone high up in the chain of command had figure out who she was, and tracking Garp's movements, eventually found her on a remote island in one of the Four Blues. Luckily she had been away from the East Blue at the time, not leading any trails to her brothers. The how might never be answered, but in the end it didn't matter. The fact was that they did. Garp didn't hear any word of it, and left her on an island like usual, planning to pick her up within a week.

He never did.

The white coats came in waves two days after her arrival. Enough time for her to get settled and for Garp to be away from the immediate area. He would forever wonder about what happened to her, never knowing the marines who had been dispatched to capture his only granddaughter. He would search endlessly only to find her in Hell ten years later.

The girl had no warning of their attack, but nonetheless decided to make her stand than to be killed for nothing. She didn't know who these people were for while she recognized the uniform, she didn't recognize the faces. The people she fought were nameless, only sensing the strength in which they possessed. Most of them were stronger than the usual greenhorn, and were probably higher up in the military. It mattered not to her, determined to give a fight for these people who happened to stand for 'justice.' Who would kill a child for living? Who would call a kid a demon because of the blood that ran through their veins? She never wanted to understand human logic, and hoped she never would.

Two days the fight went on, and only then did she lose her foothold in this battle of theirs. Between ten high ranking marines and a person who was probably now an admiral, she didn't stand a chance when they cornered her from all sides. They took advantage of the fact she was overpowered by the swarms of weak marines at her back and the higher ranking officers attacking her head on. One slip in the mud cost her ten years of her life which was spent in Impel Down. No one hesitated in taking the hit which would insure her downfall, their attack not stopping for even a moment. It just shows how heartless they had become, not even taking her down with honor befitting a marine.

A painful shout escaped her lips, a terrified shriek that would forever echo in the wild for the animals that could do nothing to help the girl who had done nothing wrong. The eyes of a girl with bright blue eyes that were forever filled with never ending amusement closed and her world faded into the black abyss.

The girl woke up in a cell, chains around every limb to keep her body unmovable. Cuffs around her hands and feet, her hands chained to either side of her and right above her head on the wall. Binds were attached to her ankle shackles, her legs cross and metal meeting the collar around her neck. Together all her chains met to the back of the wall, where her spine was directly below.

Her shackles were made out of sea stone, the only element she would never be able to destroy.

Deep under the ocean where darkness is birthed and people are all but forgotten to the outside world, lays a girl not even the age of ten. The girl was battered and beaten, scars that might never heal even with expert doctor treating them after they were received. Hair that is so dark it is blue, and purple streaks rise from underneath, bright sapphire eyes that only darken and the once frown turning upwards that grow into a crazed smile that screams of insanity.

On the final level of Impel Down, Level Six, is prisoner 875936.  
_Name: Monkey D. Luna._

_Age: Eight_

_DOB: May 5__th__, 1504_

_Mother: Unknown_

_Father: Monkey D. Dragon "Most Wanted Man in the World" – Bounty: Three billion beli._

_DOI: May 12__th__, 1512 _

_Residing Level: Six_

_Crime for Imprisonment: Existing  
_Idiotic, foolish humans. If they simply paid more attention to the words of the world, if only they realized you could never keep an unwilling cat caged, if only they realized how truly insane she was, then maybe they might have stood a chance. A cat never lets a mouse get away, and always destroys the cages.

Only the insane can do it, after all.

**Pages: 3**

**Words: 1387**


	2. Chapter One: Trio Turns to a Duo

**Chapter One: Trio Turns to a Duo**

Ace was impatient. It was a given of the world, a fact that couldn't be denied. Just like how it was impossible to imagine a mean Sabo or a non-abusive Garp. These were facts of the world, and Ace being impatient was one of them. It was even more so on this day. It had been two weeks since he saw his sister that had been taken by that crazy old man they were forced to call grandfather. He had taken her away from them to train her, as he always did four times a year. She was meant to train with her brothers, getting stronger together and knowing each other like the back of their hands. The usual time was a week and a few days, however this time it was heading on three full weeks. Twenty-eight days they had been apart, not a word from either side to know how they were doing.

_What the hell did that bastard do to his little sister?_

He was sitting in the tree house the three of them had made together when a bird flew in – a crow, to be specific. Or maybe it was a raven. Those birds were the kind that she used to send messages, and for the life of the two brothers they couldn't remember the difference between the two of them. The second the brothers saw the black bird they jumped into action, racing to the bird in anticipation for the letter that were sure to come.

The bird stuck out his foot, showing them the letter and they untied it without hesitation. The raven however did not move, simply watching them as they began to read the letter that was not actually recent. It was told to observe, even if it was not waiting for a return letter to return to its master. He had no idea where she was anyway.

_Dear burazāzu; Ace-nii and Sabo-nii,_

_If you are receiving this, then something has happened to me. What has happened, I cannot confirm myself as I do not know. If this has reached you, there are only a few possibilities of what it could have been. I have probably been kidnapped, or killed. I'd much rather go with the later than the former. If it was not one of those two, I have probably killed myself to keep some dignity of my life in tact._

_I know you both well enough to know that you will begin to blame yourself for something that is out of your control, as well as Jin-chan. If he had nothing to do with it or not is up for question, but I have enough faith in him to believe he wouldn't have put me in danger on purpose. No matter how shitty the man is, he does try to look out for our best interest, even if we don't agree with him. Either way, it will help no one. I wish for you to stop this hatred before it manifest – hopefully this letter has reached you in time for that. If I am in fact dead, blaming someone will do no good. I am dead, and the dead cannot return from the beyond. You can try to take revenge to avenge me, but know that I will never be able to feel it beyond the grave. To be honest, if I am dead, I would hate you to the ends of the earth if you tried to bring me back. The dead are meant to stay dead._

_If I am captured by who-knows-what, whether it be marine, pirate, bounty hunter, or slave traders, I guarantee we'll meet again one day on the high seas. I know I can survive on my own, and I have faith in your abilities to know you guys can too. I'm insane, not mentally unstable. There's a difference, no matter how small._

_The point of this letter is that even if I am dead or if I'm gone from your lives for now, I want you two to keep looking out for each other. Don't forget about me, but don't let me be a cause of pain for you either. The last thing I want to do is hurt you, and even if it's just the memory of me I could never live with myself._

_Live on, if not for yourselves, live for me. Never doubt your reason to live even as all else fails. Those who love and trust you will always love and trust you. Even if they no longer do, I always will. You might never know how much I love you. I ask one thing from you; live life without regrets._

_If I am dead, I want to see that you have come to me with no regrets in your hearts. I want to know that life has been worth living – even if it wasn't easy. I want to know the adventures you have had and the paths you have taken. I want to know that life had been worth all the pain it put us through._

_Do me a favor though; rec havoc on the world. They need insane people, don't you think?_

_Forever Love,_

_Luna_

_Your imōto_

_P.S. Sabo – I know you shall forever wonder this so I'll answer it now. How does the bird know if I'm dead or have been kidnapped? If we ever met I'll tell you the clue to my genius. Look after Ace in the meantime, who knows how much trouble he'll get into if not for us?_

_P.S. Ace – Please try not to annoy Sabo too much, he has his hands full just trying to keep you two alive. Don't ever doubt your reason to live – if you need one, you were put here on this planet to be my big brother._

"Luna… our Lu," Sabo whispers, almost to himself.

"…no. No! I refuse! I refuse to believe she's gone! Lu might have been a weakling but she was stronger than most people in the East Blue! No way sh-"

"ACE!"

"SABO! LUNA'S GONE!"

"Calm down you idiot!"

"YOU WANT ME TO BE CALM WHEN OUT LITTLE SISTER MIGHT VERY WELL BE DEAD AND NOT BE AVENGED!"

"NO YOU IDIOT! THAT'S NOT WHAT I'M SAYING!" Sabo sighed, trying to calm himself down before he said something he would probably regret. "Lu said that she could have been kidnapped! Think of that option as well, no matter how unlikely it may seem. And if she has been kidnapped, she's been kidnapped by someone we can't beat yet, so we have to get stronger to bust her out," Sabo's lips tremble, trying to get the next words out of his mouth without bursting into tears. "…and if she is dead-"

"She's not!"

"If she is dead," Sabo continues as if Ace never interrupted him, determine to say the next few words, "…then we will avenge her. But if they took her down, they're no laughing matter and we need to become stronger so we can see that they go down with our own eyes!"

The trembling they both felt never stopped, both of them feeling as if there was a part of them was gone. In a sense, it was. Luna had always been there for so long they no longer remembered a time where she wasn't there. They didn't want to go a day without her, let alone years. The next ten years would be difficult, almost like a cloud of darkness was hanging around them and no matter what they did the sun never seemed to shine around their little makeshift family.

Sabo and Ace never forgot about Luna. Quite the contrary, she was almost always there in the front of their mind. For a while they almost forgot she wasn't physically there with them because they could almost hear her responses. When they responded to thin air their crew would almost look at them as if they were crazy. They probably were.

They made a promise leaving their home island in the East Blue, to never forget. To forget was to forget about Luna, to forget about their little sister, to forget about the promise she made to them. To forget about her and everything that made her up would be like drowning with air in your lungs. It just wasn't possible.

A year after they left for the sea they ran into the Whitebeard Pirates while searching for their sister and challenging any higher ups that could have possibly known any information. Two months after that they joined the crew as a mate and a brother. The Whitebeards have no idea who Luna is, and the brothers would like to keep it that way. On some level of consciousness they felt they were betraying her to a degree if they were to let others know about the bond they shared with her. No matter what the Whitebeads became to them, they didn't want to share Luna with anyone – even if just a memory. They couldn't share them with Luna, why would they share Luna with them?

It was too good to be true though. They didn't expect the day to come so quickly, never thought it would spring on them out of nowhere. It was suddenly there, the day where they failed as big brothers in protecting their kin. The sky was darker than usual in their minds, for as they grew older and stronger the once slightly dimmer light grew as well, the light falling behind clouds more than ever before. The day came upon them all to fast, as if it was always there.

Their mouths can no longer form a smile, not even a pretend one like they were able to do in the past. They can no longer eat a full meal let alone their usual quantities, stomachs filled with lead as they are and the air they breathe feels heavier than usual. Nothing can ever fall into place on this day – the day everything was shot to hell.

The crew notices.

It's not like they were actively trying to hide it, but they weren't going out of their way to broadcast their sorrows either. They were simply staring out at the ocean, wondering if their sister was out there somewhere – waiting for them to find her. Their emotions were expressionless, for the sorrow they bore was no one but theirs and they refused to push the same sorrow onto anyone else. The second the crew saw them they knew something was wrong. They decided to leave them be though, seeing if they would get better or be willing to talk later on in the day. In the following hours after lunch Thatch, the fourth division commander, had enough of the two staring off into space and was going to get an answer out of the two brothers.

The brunette marches right up to the two who haven't moved a muscle since this morning. He grabs them by the back of their shirts (or neck in Ace's case) and yanks them towards the main deck where all their fellow commanders had gathered along with the captain. Each one of them had a look telling them to spill what's bothering them.

Too bad the brothers get their stubbornness streak from their sister.

"Ace! Sabo! What the hell is the matter with you?! You haven't eaten, moved, and have yet to talk all day!" Thatch exclaims, hoping it will catch their attention and snap them out of whatever funk they've gotten themselves into. He should have known better than that, they won't break that easily.

Ace and Sabo give each other side looks from their place on their backs before saying in unison, "None of your business."

Marco steps up to the plate, unwilling to let this topic stand where it is. He wouldn't allow brothers of his to waste away, even for a day. "What do you mean it's none of our business?! You're our brothers, are you not?! Anything that makes you sad is our problem, yoi. We're allowed to worry about you. Let us know, goddamn it!"

"Leave it, Marco," Sabo says, a hint of warning in his tone that wasn't there before. They know they should back off, that they all have stories that they don't want everyone to know. However they're their little brothers, they want to help. Even if they can't. They can be an ear to their problems, be someone to give input from an outside point of view that has no connection to the problem. If only they knew that their problem couldn't really be fixed – at least not by them.

"No, we will not just leave it!"

"What's been bothering you?!"

"Just tell us!"

"…this day," it is barely above a whisper, and most of them have to strain to hear it. The two don't move, just continues to look up at the blue sky like it might have their answers. In some distant life, or world, maybe it does. Maybe the stars of a different universe could point to where Luna was, and lead them to her.

"Friday? You've never had a problem before," Thatch claims.

Tick marks appears on everyone's foreheads for Thatch's stupidity. Who the heck was this guy's parents? And was it genetic? Or did he just inhale too much smoke when he was younger? There must have been something wrong in his childhood. Could he have been dropped on his head when he was an infant?

"It's what happens on this day, the ninetieth of May."

"What happened on May 19th, sons?" Whitebeard, always one to keep quite in most delicate matters, asks.

The brothers clench their teeth together, almost like it was painful to even admit what is about to be spoken aloud. "It's the day we failed at being brothers." The declaration is what stops most of them from plowing ahead with their demands. They can't see how they would have ever failed them, never once did they try anything but their bests once they were on the crew.

"You haven't been bad brothers Sabo, Ace," Izo says, almost confused in a way most are.

"Big brothers," on the crew they are the youngest, there is no one younger than them so it confuses them for a moment. The young ones were great role models and there wouldn't be a day were they could even think they weren't ones to care for another in their duo. How could they have failed a third, if that is what they are hinting at.

"It wasn't always the two of us, Ace and I," Sabo begins, almost as if he wasn't telling it and simply reciting what has been told to him. "We have a third sibling – Luna." This startles the commanders even though they were prepared for it. They can't really imagine having another Ace and Sabo around. "She's the youngest of us, by two years. She was like the sun, shining brightly and always smiling. She was the only good thing in our childhood."

"When I was younger," Ace took control of their story, unwilling to let Sabo say anything anymore. "I hated the world, I hated the people and the only person I could stand being friends with was Sabo. Luna was suddenly just there, it didn't matter how many times I tried to get rid of her because she was always just there with her knowing smile, as if she knew everything this world could ever know. I can never tell you how many times I tried to kill her and failed. One day she finally found us, though Sabo believes that she could have found us whenever she wanted to, and a week later we were doing the ritual to make ourselves siblings," very subtly they let their fingers run across their wrist subconsciously, where a scar laid at the center of their veins.

"Time passed after a while and Luna was taken away every three or so months to train on different island in the Blues. When she was eight she went on one of these trips, but unlike the other times she didn't come back. Gramps never confirmed anything, nor did he deny it. She simply never returned to our home island."

"No one knows what happened to her, or at least our little family doesn't. It didn't matter how much we pestered Gramps for information or how often we begged him to go search for her. Sabo and I can only assume that she was killed or kidnapped, the second being highly unlikely for she would rather slit her own throat before getting captured. Either way we failed to look out for her, we failed as her older siblings to protect her."

The commanders couldn't say anything to that, no matter how much they wanted to reassure the younger siblings that it wasn't their fault. Their minds had been made up though, and only the words of a dead girl could bring the peace of mind. The Whitebeards Pirates couldn't change a person's mindset, especially after all this time of convincing themselves this was the only way.

Whitebeard asked a surprised question, "Do you happen to have a picture of her?" it was soft, as a way not to startle the sons that are trying to block out the world on this day, the day their world came crashing down around them.

Sabo, the one who always has what is needed, reaches into the ribbon of his hat to remove a piece of paper. The back is dated, showing it was when they were nine and seven respectively. He doesn't open the photo, allowing the wind that happens to pass by to carry it to their father in all but blood.

Opening the picture he is greeted with the image of a younger version of Sabo and Ace, both having near identical scowls on their faces though their eyes told a different story. In between them is a little girl a couple of years younger than them. The girl is shorter than them by a half a foot, and she has the brightest blue eyes that he had ever seen. Her hair, while short in the photograph, is still long enough to tell she is female. It's so dark that it's blue, purple streaks running through it as if they were always there. On her mouth there were cute little fangs, almost cat-like. It only added to her adorableness.

He knew the second he laid eyes on her. This was the remaining member of his makeshift family. The one who never made it aboard.

Edward, for as long as he could remember, was able to sense who would become a part of his family and very rarely did he go against it. Meeting his sons he was able to hear something click in each one of them, a connection being formed. They usually never heard it, and if they did they usually tried to fight back against it. Meeting Ace and Sabo he had thought something was missing, but since the boys never brought it up and there was no sign of a third, he let it go and never touched the subject again.

He should have trusted that instinct.

Luna was a daughter of Whitebeard. It didn't matter if she would never know it.

**Pages: 6**

**Words: 3228**

**Reviews:**

**Mr. Indigo: I'm glad. I have much planned :)**

**WhatifStoryTeller: Nope. It was a surprise... I'm not like that, yoi. There, as you can see, has been a major timeskip,**

**Jisca: I find Alice and Wonderland very endearing as well, I've been obessed with Cheshire as of late and when I saw there wasn't a lot of them, I figured why not?**

**Leska: I will, don't worry. Just takes a while. (I sadly do have a life.)**

**Zelga Lim Li: What was it about? I don't think I've unpublished anything on this site.**

** 940: I'm glad, I always like it when people like my stories enough to follow.**

**As you lovely readers can see, I have re-written everything. I wasn't really happy with the first one and I felt like I was taking too many ideas from the stories that inspired me (the other Cheshire stories you can find by typing in 'One Piece' &amp; 'Cheshire' as well as ****a secret**** by poisonous ivy (if I'm correct, I haven't looked at it in a long time)) and that left a bad feeling in my stomach. I don't try to steal story ideas, but if I don't really think about it, it does happen. That's why I usually type out what I'm going to do, re-read it a bunch of times, and from that write another story that's different but still similar in concepts ideas. Its a pain, but I'd rather take weeks refining an idea than to take one. I just didn't refine this one as much as I should have before posting it.**

**There is a difference besides just my writing style (that changes every other day), and the events will begin to sort of squish together. This re-written version actually has three-updates to it because so many chapters have combined themselves into one. I would have felt horrible if I didn't give you a chapter nine and you probably wouldn't have looked back if I didn't say in the ninth chapter to go re-read everything. (Its a pain, I know, I've been told to do it before and I usually don't. I'm then confused for the next five chapters before I stop my stubborn streak and go re-read the stupid story).**

**I hope you have enjoyed this re-write, there is more to come, just click that next button. Go, click it. Its not going to bite.**

**Love, Night **


	3. Chapter Two: Crazed Jail

**Chapter Two: Crazed Jail**

Years might have passed, so many that she lost count of the days and weeks, seconds turning into months within a blink of an eye. In this place time no longer mattered, the sun never reaching them and forever having them trapped in a darkness that never escaped. Here you were dead, even when your eyes were open, heart beating, and lungs working.

She was left alone for the most part of her stay. The only ones that talked to her were the other prisoners, but even then it was far and few. The torturers rarely came down to Level Six, having more fun with the upper inmates. Every once in a while they would seem to gang up on her though when one did wonder down here. It didn't matter if she was on her best or worst behavior, the punishment was better if she was meaner, the punishment was worst if she acted nice. And then sometimes the punishment would be beyond the capabilities of humans and Luna would be left begging to scream out in pain.

Even after all these years, not much had changed. She grew into a woman, her hair lengthened as time went by. It clung to her face in a mass of oil, a disgusting piece of strings that were dead. Her face, once so innocent looking, grew defined and sharp, having lost her baby fat faster than others her age. Her eyes spoke of someone even older, who had seen the world and all that it had to offer. The royal blue that captivated people now looked at the world in a daze, as if nothing was real and she was in her own little world. There are no laugh lines on her face, nowhere even close to a crease. Her face is expressionless as glass, harder than stone.

While she did not have much meat on her bones, she wasn't a skeleton. The muscles that she built up in her time outside of here and in the cell kept her organs and took place of any fat she might have needed. She was far from healthy, however the damage didn't do any harm to her growth or development.

There are no rags of the uniform on her body, a nice marine lady having brought her some clothes every so often. She would always grumble how it wasn't right for a child to be locked up in here, how the marines had gone to the dogs and how they could never be redeemed for it. Luna could do nothing but stare at her because she had nothing to say. She couldn't give comfort to the woman because the organization that she worked for was the reason she was put in her cell.

This time she had brought a simple black jeans with a white shirt and black combat boots. It didn't really matter what she wore, as long as it covered enough and was comfortable she was fine. Neither of them could do anything about the chains though, for they never let up and always made her too weak to even breathe.

It was a struggle at first when she first woke up. A thousands weights could have been pressing against her and it still would have been lighter than the presence of sea stone on her skin. It was like she was drowning, her muscles spasming as they tried to fight back but just didn't have the strength for it. It was like waiting on their death role.

Her mind was a place not many would venture into, let alone try to understand. It wandered in and out of their plane of existence and beyond. Never truly was it there for them to reach, her attention probably the hardest thing to gain. The world could have ended and still she would be here, singing the same words over and over, driving her inmates into insanity.

_London Bridge is falling down,_

_Falling Down, falling down_

_London Bridge is falling down,_

_My fair lady_

The castle was falling, everything coming down around their ears and yet still they did not know what was in store for them. It was never ending, a place where the deepest pits resided and conquered. There was no escaping it even if you begged and pleaded. They would always get you at the end, driving you deeper into your own mind.

_Built it up with iron bars,_

_Iron bars, iron bars_

_Built it up with iron bars_

_My fair lady_

It mattered not how long you climbed to reach the top, if you built a cage around your heart and mind to protect it. The greatest of fortresses had cracks in their walls, a lapse in defense. When there was an opening at any angle, your enemy will always take it. It was a matter of fact, it would always be a rule of the world that if you couldn't defend what you hold dear to you, then you would always lose it.

_Built it up with silver and gold,_

_Silver and gold, silver and gold_

_Built it up with silver and gold_

_My fair lady_

The most precious of gems could be right in front of you for the taking. You could be starving and have food placed just out of arm's length. It tempted you, making you desperate and a rock in your stomach. For while if you couldn't protect what was yours you deserved to lose it, it also went the same way. If you couldn't take it, you could never have it.

_Gold and silver I have none_

_I have none, I have none_

_Gold and silver I have none_

_My fair lady_

Sooner or later you would give up hope. It didn't matter how strong your resolve was or what was about to happen to you. Humanity would give up on caring, would give up on living and just sit back and watch the world burn while they laughed.

Everything broke, even the mightiest.

_London Bridge is falling down,_

_Falling down, falling down,_

_London Bridge is falling down,_

_My fair lady_

**Pages 3**

**Words: 1018**

**Reviews:**

**Mr. Indigo: ...no, now stopping asking questions that you most likely know that I will answer. I can't have people asking questions when I know I will blurt out the answer anytime anyone asks. I'm glad I have you craving for more, for there is the next button if you scroll a little bit further.**

**Jisca: I understand that feeling. I woke up at four in the morning to read a fanfiction which I thought would never update again. I'm glad you think so, I do try my best to make my stories the top of the chart - I even go back and re-write them a thousand times until I'm happy with it. Its the same way with Ace and I. Even if its about... you know... I will read it and ball. I'm in love with Ace, and I wish he was real... my score board goes like this: 1st - Ace, Second - Marco &amp; Law, Third - Zoro &amp; Shanks, and no one else matters in my eyes. Not even Luffy(which is strange, I write about him a lot, even if he's genderbent)**

**Shiranui Rixma: No Shanks right now, maybe later though.**

**BeASlumberingDragon: Let me tell you a secret... I like sad stories. I would rather read them over a happy story.**


	4. Chapter Three: Imprisonment

**Chapter Three: Imprisonment**

Luna was alone in all of her time within Impel Down, never once having a cellmate like many others did. Besides the old lady she only got visits from the tortures. She had mixed feelings about being alone, for while she was a person that loved the cheerful noises of people talking, they were not that. These beings were monsters given human forms. When they came she had to slip just a little but more into her mind, let the part that didn't care about anything take over. She couldn't afford to lose more of herself.

When she is alone though, her mind wanders into places better left forgotten. She's been lost for so long that she doesn't even know what is real anymore. Memories have been forgotten within this hell. Faces she once knew and loved and protected from everything faded, names meaning nothing for they were hallow in her ears. Primal instinct was starting to take control of her mindset, logical thinking meaning nothing to her now. There was a time where she fought against such a thing, tried to keep her sanity in check and tried to keep a hold on who she was.

It didn't matter though because one day her stability just _snapped_. Her reasons to keep holding on disappeared and the will she held on for so long vaporized into thin air. The ground underneath her feat was dug up, leaving her floundering for a way to pull herself up.

When she was younger she was called the devil, the insane of which Satan had brought forth.

They were wrong.

She was on the verge of craziness when she was younger, one who tried so desperately to pull herself back for the brothers that needed and loved her. For the father that never came home but was always watching out for her. She fought against the presence in her mind for them, her family. After so many years though, after such pain and memory loss and not knowing just who the fuck she was, she could no longer find the rope that held her up from the void. She couldn't fight who she was, who she had been. In the end, it didn't matter who she is.

She can't be Luna anymore.

Luna was a girl who loved life and loved to laugh. Who cried in her sleep for fear her father would forget about her. Luna was a girl who was innocent and tried to keep whatever madness she had at bay for the sake of her family and friends. She was willing to fight, willing to live. Luna was a girl with everything still intact, no matter how broken it appeared to be.

Cheshire, the person who Luna cared for and natured and protected since she birthed and met, was a woman who had no reason to keep holding back. She loved the tortured souls of the damned, loved the war that raged inside of her mind. For Cheshire there was nothing stopping her, nothing that could stop her and nothing that would. She was _free_ for the first time in so long that she could cry of happiness.

She can't be Luna, the innocent girl who kept the madness at bay. She was lost in the oceans of insanity, still clinging to the hope that she could one day claw her way out drowning there. She was Cheshire now, a creature that thrived on the blood and despair of people.

Cheshire was the only one home.

**oOOoOOo**

He walks down the corridor, one that will reach end at the cage that will trap him forever in a trap that he can't escape. Crushing guilt eats away at his insides, some part of him begging for release so he won't be seen as a failure. It was what he was, after all. He failed in his mission, failed his brothers, his friends, his father and oldest comrades. He got himself sentenced to the one place a prisoner never returns from.

Impel Down.

The main guilt isn't just for the screw up though, it goes deeper and darker, a place where it is rarely touched and he hasn't allowed himself to think of such things for it will reinforce the fact he isn't supposed to be walking on this planet.

He failed her, the greatest regret he could ever have in his lifetime.

Not only is he coming to her with regrets, with a heart full of them, he can't help but think she will always be a regret in his mind. He will never regret meeting her, loving her, will never doubt the moments they shared and the fact they did become siblings even after she knew who he was birthed from. His regrets stems from the fact that even after all these years, they haven't found out what happened to her.

She could be dead for all they know, or she could be in torturous agony, begging them to come and help her.

It's a more horrifying than he wants to admit.

He wonders if she'll ever forgive him.

Chains rattle as he walks, his destination being a cell that will keep him locked up until his death call. It's a waiting room, this prison. Whether for their execution or for death, they both equal the same thing. He was no exception to this waiting line. Ace was going to die, this wasn't a dream and he wasn't going to pretend it was either. He would have been a disgrace otherwise.

The guard tugged at his chains, forcing him to move and jerking him around. He was shoved in and chained to the wall in no time. Ace didn't bother to fight, knowing there wasn't a way to get out. Before the guards left he turned to the opposite side of the cage, and said, "You've finally getting a cellmate. Enjoy it while you can because after he's gone the lights go out for you."

Ace strained his eyes, but it was so dark that it took more than a few minutes to adjust to the lighting. Once he was able to find a reasonable perspective level of sight, he could finally see who he shared cells with.

The body was chained to the opposite wall, arms spread out much like his were, and hooked with chains, no space to move. The guards took extra precautions, the metal wrapping around the person multiple times because meeting with the thick collar and melding into the stone wall. Their skin was covered with faint outlines of scars, burns everywhere. There were probably whip and knife slashes elsewhere. Blood drenched their person, having dried and left a crusted brown around them. The fresh blood dripped from their black hair and bloodied hands though, dripping into the cracks of the floor.

The prisoner was female, that much he could tell, and he wondered what someone so seemingly young was doing in such a place. What little he had gleamed of her appearance and aura wasn't much, not enough to put her on a high threat level. The older guards continued to treat her with caution, probably knowing the dangers of the woman better than the new recruits. There were a handful of reasons that the person across from him could be here at such a young age and not have been on the news recently. Either she had been there too long for anyone to remember here (he didn't think it was likely, she was seventeen at least, twenty-one at the most if he was pushing it) or she was put in this cell for a similar reason to his own imprisonment.

A creak in the neck made him focus his attention on her instead of her situation and state of being, the black curls slowly rising and a deep breathing heard from where he was sitting. A torturer must have come down very recently for there to be so much fresh blood around the place. He saw a smile first, one that might have been a little crazed but still very sincere in his eyes. Dimples came next, a little lower than the cheeks but higher than the mouth. High cheek bones followed, almost like an aristocrat. Slender, beautiful orbs that could have captured anyone's eyes if just a moment was taken to gaze into them. Those same beautiful orbs that held the world in a gaze, a lazy cat's look in them as if everything was just a game.

Eyes that had haunted him for the better part of ten years.

The bright, electrifying azures that once were, no, _always will be_, the center of his world stared at his from inches away. Those beautiful heliotrope colors that belong to only one person who was his sister. Eyes that were darker than they had been when he was ten.

Monkey D. Luna, his little sister, the person who he searched for ten years for, were right where every criminal would be. The only difference was that she never willingly committed a crime.

Those eyes are hazy now, almost not really focusing on him and he wonders, in the pits of his mind, if he has lost his sister before he could ever hope to get her back.

This place was going to burn for what they did to her.

**Pages: 3**

**Words: 1556**

**Reviews:**

**Dark D. Phoenix: I am a Mam, and thank you for saying so. **

**BeaLuffy: I have a brother that is born one day after you. I'll see what I can't do :)**

**Katepatterson: ...well, I didn't do it intentionally, but it worked out anyways so why change it? Thanks for the review :)**

**Girlsofmanyhandshakes: You got you answer :)**


	5. Chapter Four: What a Foolish Sibling

**Chapter Four: What a Foolish Sibling**

He can't break the silence for the longest time, the seconds dragging out into hours in his mind. He can't think of words that can express his sorrow, his relief, his guilt and love for her. Words aren't enough to show her his feelings that are rampaging in his mind right now. The human language can never hope to match the bumbling of rain and fire in his chest.

The silence continues, and he knows that he has to break it before he can no longer gather the courage to do so. Has to know what has happened to her, has to know her pain and wants to share in it like they used to do when they were kids. He wants his little sister back.

"Lu…?" his voice breaks the air around them, vibrating, the sound cautious and almost fearful, afraid of the noise level being too loud for her and fearing that it will spook her off and leave her afraid of him for the rest of their existence. Probably wasn't long enough for a normal person to care, but even just a moment of fear in those sapphire eyes were enough to have him feeling like scum on the bottom of the ocean.

"Good evening… Ace," her answer gives him the chills, a shiver running down his spine before he can stop it. The soothing sound that once made him sleep when he had nightmares is still there, hidden beneath the layers and layers of coldness that fears being detected. The happiness that bubbles never goes anywhere near the surface, being afraid it will be stamped out as soon as its presence is known.

"Please tell me… is that really you, Luna?" The girl with a vibrant smile, the secretive look in her eyes, the one that made him smile and laugh because she was like the sun, was his little sister. He was terrified that she was lost within the seas of her own mind, the waves drowning her in the madness that had plagued her when they were younger. This person in front of him, even if they no longer shown as bright as the sun, was still Luna. He just needed to know which one.

"Who knows?"

"What do you mean?" If neither of them can figure out which one is controlling the body they share, if they are no longer right in front of you, willing to fight and break and be there, how will anyone ever know who is who?

"This body, this essence, is what makes up the person known as 'Monkey D. Luna.' There will never be another that inhabitants this body, no other words and actions that are not her own pass through these limbs and lips. The consciousness that we share is still one in the same, even if one was gone and lost within ourselves we would still be here. We will always be here. It matters not what you call this body by _'A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet,'_ the person you knew will always be here even as this body dies."

He would never understand her, probably never would. He would give anything to find someone who did speak in her riddles, who knew what she was talking about. The only reason he could even make out the bare bones of her little rant was the fact he had known her for so long. Ace wondered if he would ever get the little girl he once knew back – the one that had been _with_ them enough to know what was truly going on.

It didn't really matter though, he was going to spend every last second with his life with her until the very end. He wasn't going to leave, he was going to imprint these moments into his brain and never forget.

"Do you know how long we have?" _Do you know how long until they kill us?_ was left unsaid, even if it was implied. They both knew their path way before anything else. They knew the scream of blood, wanting nothing more than their lives on a platform with a blade inches above their necks.

"Who knows? Time is a fickle thing, never moving yet not standing still. Not stolen, not given, they can't be either because at the end of the day humans are the ones who created it. It's a figment of their minds, created to make humane creatures feel above others and the effort not to descend themselves into madness's grasp. It's their basic instinct though, no one can escape it forever," her cat-like eyes seem to see something beyond him, and he's tempted to try to turn around to find what she's looking at. He knows there is nothing there though, her imagination playing tricks on her. "It's pathetic how far humanity has sunk, how they have lost their basic instincts to the passage of time. The core of our beings allow us to fit into this world and survive all its challenges, allowing us to become stronger before it swallows us whole. If we get swallowed whole we were never meant to go longer, our minds destroyed and our spirit set free. We are allowed to do as we please, benumbed as we are but never in a cage again. The path we take, the one that has been laid out before the two of us is leading us to our departure, the road people have walked on numerous times before us and what you have seen for yourself. I won't let you walk down that path though, won't let you take a step beyond the point of no return. For as long as you are loved, even if just by me, there will not be a day where there is not someone to stand between you and that door. I will be there, be the one that stand between you and it if no one else will – I'm standing before it now, waiting, and I will continue to do so until I can never awaken because I have suffocated myself with the agonizing staring of the door."

He wondered if Luna, his sister and not the person she raised since she was seven, knew what she was talking about. He wondered if there was a place in her mind where these riddles translated into words people could understand and speak like anyone else could. He wondered if this was always her, never having met her before she ate her devil fruit to have anything to compare it to.

Ace wondered if she was drowning within the despair of not being able to really tell anyone anything.

It was all he could do after all.

**xXXxXXx**

They talked, talked about the years that had passed and the sorrows they held. Spoke of the outside world and of times that have gone passed, of what she had missed when she was in this Hell. Ace begs for her story, the story that only she will ever know and ever be willing to speak. He begs for the truth. She gives it to him.

She spoke of the attack on the island, of the scars she had gained and how many she was against. How she was attacked on all sides, not having anywhere to run or to have her back against. They didn't even bother to corner her, letting her cage herself instead. Luna described in great detail about how she was knocked out on a cheap shot when she was down, how the marines didn't even bother to fight her fairly.

In return she asked what had happened after she was taken from the brothers' side, what had happened to the childhood they had and what their crew was like. While Cheshire might have been at the forefront of her mind, she too wanted to know what had happened to the people she considered as brothers. Ace explained the despair they went through after learning of her supposed 'death,' and how they decided to follow her last wishes in hopes that they wouldn't disappoint her. In return for the freedom she had given them for being the one Garp had taken every single time, they decided to live out their dreams and hope beyond hope that one day the pair would find out what happened to her. Ace spoke greatly about the pirates he met, the family he was able to join and live with as if they were their own.

Ace spoke of the reason he was even here in the first place, the betrayal the Whitebeard Pirates had faced months ago by the hand of Blackbeard. The man who had sentenced him to his death long before he even knew anything of who he really was. Blackbeard could have demanded anything in return for his head and the government would have given it freely for a shot at him, but since Marshall hadn't known he had been basically robed of a chance – something both of them found incredibly amusing. He was the reason Ace was in Impel Down in the first place, something Luna could never forgive.

The woman heard more of her brother's tale, and the more she heard the angrier she felt, her once sincere smile at hearing his adventures turning into an edgier and more frightening grin as she listened to the story of the damned man's betrayal. There wasn't any reason for an unreasonable killing in her mind – though she wasn't one to talk – and silent vowed for revenge on all those who had wronged the Whitebeard Pirates and her brothers.

Luna, in the deepest of seas, agreed. If she, the main embodiment of who they were, wasn't resisting than nothing would ever hold them back from their goal. Nothing could.

And so Luna, the moon in the darkest pits, planned out the attack, calculating the movements needed to be placed to win, and she schemed of the way she would escape from this imprisonment alive to get to the battle field which would be held for Ace's life – one which was sure to take place on his execution platform. Both she and Cheshire waited for the game to take place, waited for the time which she could strike and know that she had won.

In the depths of her mind she laughed at the fools who had brought this on themselves. Not only had they knowingly taunted Whitebeard, the King of the Sea, but also the Cat that would make their nightmares come real. If the Sea King didn't allow them to live after this, she sure as hell would break them so they could never rise from this experience again.

The time she had spent here she had planned quietly to escape, to take her leave without anyone noticing and without humiliating the marines. They made her their enemy now, she was no longer going to take mercy on them for what they have done. It wouldn't matter to her if they begged for forgiveness. The brother she had protected and guided when they were younger, the brother she loved and made sure he knew he was loved, the brother she could give anything for, was hurting because of these… garbage. To think they could even get away with it was laughable, to think they were going to walk away with this unharmed made her think that she wasn't the one that needed a psychological test. The fact that they did it in the first place just had them begging in her eyes for their souls to be damned.

The cat would wait, for cats are good at playing the waiting game. No one can beat them at it, at their very own game. They hated to lose, and they always won – even when they lost.

If the Cheshire lost this round, she would still be the queen at the end of the board.

There's an echo across the stone slabs used as flooring, a _thump, thump_ being heard as the sound bounces off the rocks. The rhythm isn't recognizable to Luna, not having heard many different footsteps in her stay. Ace however knows them, a familiar swing and bounce that he doesn't think he can ever rid himself of in his mind. With it comes a burning hate, a hatred because this was the person that was meant to protect them, the one who was supposed to protect _Luna_, but didn't, failing them when they needed him the most. It didn't matter what crime you could have committed, didn't matter all the good things you had done. The moment you had hurt her, Ace can no longer be a bystander or an ally. Luna will always come first in his mind.

This person doesn't even deserve to beg for forgiveness.

The ownership of the footsteps come into view, the so-called marine hero of the Old Era, Monkey D. Garp. The person that dumped them on the doorstep of bandits that owed a debt to him, a man that was entrusted with their parents to look after them. A man that they had the misfortune to call 'Grandfather.'

"What are you doing here, Garp?" Ace has long since stopped calling the man grandfather, hasn't really done so since he was five and stopped all together when he was ten. He no longer desires to try to fix his idea of being a makeshift family, Ace's only concern being the family he was accepted into and the siblings he made before even knowing of them. The hopes of a future, a nice future with this man was destroyed long before Garp was even dreaming of it. To the trio, Monkey D. Garp was dead to them.

He had noticed this little quirk of Ace's for quite a while, having noticed it the second he stopped calling him 'Gramps' so often and when he stopped it all together. He could only guess at the first, but he knew very well the second. The title he had worn for little more than over a decade was stripped from him, bringing old wounds to the surface. The words of his first and only son had been said to him in that exact same tone, too similar for his liking and the way they practically spat the name 'Garp' at him with so much spite in their tone was like a punch to the gut – one dealt by Roger.

"I came to see you, give you word of what is happening on the world above us."

Ace stared at the aging man, not saying a word to him. His gaze could have frozen someone into an ice burg and he would still be staring at them, waiting for them to disappear from his sight. _His stare was something learned from his sister,_ Garp thought,_ but he never could get it quite right._ Ace's stare could freeze someone into the next ice age, hers had made them frozen from the core, their very soul being consumed by the cold. In many ways it was the hands of death grabbing onto them, waiting for a chance to take the unlucky person into the next life.

Just the thought of his beloved granddaughter that went missing ten years ago made him tear up, his eyes watering and yet blinking rapidly as to make them disappear before they could fall. It didn't matter how much time and resources were put into tracking her down, there was absolutely no information on her whereabouts.

He never realized that she was in the prison he so desperately tried to keep her out of.

"Sabo is creating havoc on the high seas, and the Whitebeard Pirates have been silent since it was announced you would be executed. Their allies are disappearing off our radar though, popping up places they were nowhere close to before," Garp sighs, as if he is almost ashamed of how the marines are acting. "They can't honestly think this will work, do they? We could let you out right this instant or kill you and we would still bring the wrath of Whitebeard down on us. We won't survive an attack on the strongest person of this era since Roger."

Ace says nothing as he rants, staring at him with an unreadable look in his eyes. Its as if he can't understand what he is looking at, confused as he is. It makes Garp want to break out in sweat, to shiver and look away because it reminds him so much of his wife, his son, and his granddaughter. There is only silence between the two, neither willing to break it.

Ace has to know though.

"Did you know?" his voice is empty, void of all real emotion, as if he couldn't care at all of the answer to his question. Underneath it though, underneath the apathy that he hides so well behind, there is a simmering rage that can barely be detected by anyone. It boils beneath the surface of his skin, steam rising even as he shivers from the cold. The question rings into the cold, damp air of the prison of Level Six. He doesn't think he can stand to look at the man in front of him any longer without knowing.

_Did he know she was here, down in this hell? Did he know that the marines were the ones that attacked the island she was on? That this was her fate if she wasn't hidden from the world? The training he put her through was useless in the end because it wouldn't have matter how much she trained she couldn't fight them all off? Did he ever know of the pain he caused them when he took them in?_

"Know what?"

_Did he really not know?_

"Did you know," he breathed, his anger shimmering to the surface in disbelief. "That she was here?"

_Don't tell me he never knew._

"Who was here?"

_Don't tell me he never looked._

"Me."

_Don't tell me he never cared._

Garp, the hero of the marines and the man who took down Gol D. Roger when he was in his prime, turned towards the noise. What awaited him was a sight of a female in chains, her appearance too familiar to be brushed off as nothing.

Here was his nightmare.

Monkey D. Luna, his granddaughter, on Level Six of Impel Down.

**Pages: 5**

**Words: 3068**

**Review:**

**Girlsofmanyhandshakes: Yup, I couldn't wait to write that out, it was one of my favorite scenes so far.**

**Dark D. Phoenix: I completely understand. I hate being hugged, but I like hugging. I don't like people touching me without permission.**

**XxFire-PhoenixxX: Unless she was being tortured, yes she was. You can't imagine what that would do to her posture.**

**KeepHopeStayWhelmed: I didn't do any of that, but it helped a great deal. My grades have come up and its above a 3.3 right now, and I even got to go to an awards ceremony for it. Its just, I have my brother's brain (which is confusing my mom because we have different fathers and she was sure he got his brain from his dad but since I have it as well... that theory went out the window) which means I don't have to apply myself to school. I never have. It was there, I did the work, I got good grades. So when I was put into an advance class I had no idea what to do - I never studied and work usually just came easily to me. (Though apparently a lot of people didn't like the teacher - very Christian and religion and I don't get along well - and many have complained about her teaching style) I'm alitte sad that I didn't get into Honors Chemistry, but seeing my friends have it I'm a little glad. They seem to have homework every night and with my schedule this year it just wouldn't work out for me. Most days I don't get home until six, and then I have to have dinner and a shower, and I just wouldn't have time for homework. I'm stressed enough as it is.**

**General yumi: You'll get your answer in chapter nine. It'll explain whats going on in her mind and what she wants.**

**Alexzandria: I'm glad you like how I portrayed the Cheshire fruit. To me its much easier to give control to a different being than blacking out or going insane. Mainly because I have done neither, but went I do 'black out' it feels like I'm giving control to a different person. I'm still in control, but I'm not conscious of what I'm doing. Just this week I was walking down the hallway with a friend, and suddenly I blank out the conversation I'm still having, and I awake up. I have no idea if I just missed my classroom and I couldn't tell you were I was in the school (my school, while big, is pretty small so I know every single hallway and how to get where). I had turned around three times to get my barrings. It was probably one of the most terrifying things that had happened to me this year.**

**Ezakike: I was so close. So close! It was the wrong type of bird. (I had written that before Sabo came into play with the crows in the manga - they listened to her because she was Dragon's daughter. I just had the wrong type of bird. So close! I could have been physic! I just like ravens over crows though!)**

**Brazilwolf: Luna is very strong, however, unlike the first version her mind is more fragile. She can no longer stand by herself, she no longer has the will to actaually live. She's alive out of spite right now, like how Ace basically was when he was a child. She's living to defy the world, and not actually living a life.**


	6. Chapter Five: Wake Up, Broken Toy

**Chapter Five: Wake Up, Broken Toy**

Garp doesn't know how long he stars at the figure wrapped in chains before him, doesn't know how long his mind stays blank at the truth that is in front of him. It could have been minutes or hours and he would never have been able to know. Staring is all he can do, all he knows. He can't do anything when faced with the horrifying reality of his family's life.

Bonded to the wall in every way known to man, sits a woman. He has never seen her in his life, he is sure of that. The person in front of him is thin and doused in blood, both old and new. This person had scars all over her body, scars that will never fade. The person in front of him has lost the fire in their eyes, the will of life that shows a defeated look. The woman in front of him doesn't show a sign of a true smile – not even laugh lines.

There is no way that this woman can be the little girl he raised for two years.

Garp can see it though, in the lines of her face, the way she sits even as she is chained like a dog. Her aura is still just as bright, her face still the same even when the baby fat has left her. The hair is as dark as his wives', and in turn his son's, hair. She's paler than she's ever been, her skin a deathly pale that he wonders if she's sick. It's her eyes though, those bright blue eyes that truly show who she is. His daughter-in-law had those eyes, once upon time.

Those same eyes that had once looked at him in warm, now stared at him as if they were made of ice – as if she can't stand to look at him. Its hurts worse than the look his son gave to him all those years ago, hurts worse than watching his wife on her death bed. It's agonizing.

His granddaughter, the daughter he had raised since she was forced from her father's hands, his baby girl, was wrapped up in chains up chains to make sure she couldn't move an inch, drenched in blood that was more than likely her own. Scars scattered her body, scars that were not earned – marks that would never let her forget. He never wanted to see her this way, wanted to see either of them this way. Garp almost can't stand to look at her for that's all there is now. Brands that will never heal, marks that will never fade, indentations that will haunt her for the rest of her life. Her wounds have been rubbed with salt, deeply carving the blemish on her skin. They are covered by newly born skin cells, he can tell they are more fragile than the rest of her skin. The new skin can't cover it though, only stop the bleeding.

The wounds have not yet heal, not without medical attention. There is only so much natural survival and healing can extend to, and deep gashes are not one of them. Others would probably never would have seen it, but he has seen it on other prisoners, prisoners he sent here in his day. The blood, dirt, bruises, and other bodily fluids hide the wounds from sight in this lighting, only one with a trained eye can even catch a glimpse of them. It hurts more than he thought it would, thinking of the person in front of him as a prisoner – an innocent prisoner at that. She never committed a crime, never got the chance to even think about it.

Ace is different, for while he is being executed for being Roger's son, he had the chance to choose his path. He choose to become an outlaw, a pirate, a criminal. Ace doesn't deserve being killed for being Roger's son, but he could have avoided it if he never made a name for himself. He choose his path, Luna though…

She never did.

"Luna…"

"…Old Geezer…" she begins to smile, it's not a nice smile, not even sure it could be called a smile at all, "Still think I should join the marines?" Her mouth is sharp, teeth knives and her tongue a dagger dipped into the most deadly of poison. Cheshire wants to hurt him, wants him to feel the same pain she has felt for ten years for doing nothing wrong. This man, the person Luna had once called grandfather, worked for the people who put her in a cage and threw the key away. Cheshire wanted to make him fucking see what was really happening, had to rip apart the image he had built up around the so-called 'justice bringers.'

He has to know why the marines have gone to the dogs, why even after all his begging in the two years she had known him she never gave an inch in her stance. If she hadn't been raised by her father, if she didn't have a reason more than a promise to go off of, maybe she would have refused because she didn't want to, didn't want abide by the law. That wasn't this world, wasn't her world. Her world was full of pain and suffering, with the knowledge of what would, could, and will happen, with a father that knew and love her despite everything else. This was a world that it wasn't just a promise keeping her going, something much more than that could ever be.

Garp never understood that, could never understand. He might not want to ever, but if only he did he could see behind the veil that has covered his eyes for so much longer than he realizes. In a distant part of her mind, where Luna is the controller, she wonders if she poured pain into his heart would his eyes finally open to this world of theirs. One which not all marines were fighting for good or the government wasn't doing anything because they were corrupted fools. How did he forget this, because she was so sure that once upon a time he had known, or was he always ignorant? How could he have forgotten the lesson their family had learned from so very long ago? Ace, her brother in all but blood who never knew his father, had known the rule for it was programed into his very being. The laws, the rules, that divided them from the rest of the world was clear in his eyes. Their destiny wasn't for the ordinary, they would have to fight for their life and they had to complete it before their eyes shut for the final time.

Why had he forgotten their job?

"…Luna. Wh-? Why…?" the old man gasps, as if he's trying to grasp something that seems out of reach even though it was right in front of him, continually slipping through his hands like sand. How much farther would he fall in her eyes? Until he could never redeem himself again?

"Garp… you and your foolish self, used to go on and on about the marines being _'The Bringers of Justice.'_ You praised them on their brains and strength, their sense of moral and strong will to do what was right against everything thrown their way. You pleaded the cases of the government's sin, preaching that they were in it for the people of the world. You saw it though, all those times when they were 'in it for the people.' What made you think that killing the innocents that had nothing to do with a crime was right? Where are your marines now, Garp? You wished for us to become like them and yet we would rather slit our own throats before working as a government's dog. All I see are a bunch of cowards that love to make others miserable behind the façade of being order, the despicable people that hate others that are different of defies the 'rulers' of the world," her time in Impel Down has gotten to her, letting her mind transfer to a place much less kind and the very beginning of her sentence.

"What is a better place for putting these people in their version of Hell, a place no one can even hope to replicate? This isn't Hell, not even close. No one has the right to put people in the underworld besides the Devil himself and if anyone in this god-forsaken land has than they are playing _God_, a position no one can take the chest board in because the idea that there is a _God_ among us is laughable. If there was such a being then they abandoned us long ago and no one can seem to remember why. No, this place is a torture of humans, something that one can't repent against. If they wanted to put people in Hell they would have killed them and let the beings on the other side decide where they were to go.

"No, the government said, they were going to decide who lives and dies," her smile is wider, laughter falling from her lips in an uncontrollable manner that makes her sound insane. It's terrifying, seeing what his granddaughter has become because of the organization he works for. "It doesn't matter if you're the bloody government of the universe or not! You and I and everybody who here knows that the ones who win the war are the ones who write the history for future generations. Garp, what if the bad guys were the ones who won, and the good retreated in hopes that they would live to fight another day, even if it was thousands of years into the future? This image you have created for the marines have built up so high with lies you can't even tell what the truth is anymore. The people you so heavily worship had put an eight year old in their torture chamber for simply living.

"Where is the justice in that?"

Cheshire made sure to break him, tear into him with the faint hopes of Luna that she could crack the image the marines had built in his mind, to help him truly see what they had become. Once, when Luna was younger, her father had spoken about the man her grandfather had been. This man before her wasn't him, she wouldn't allow it to be him. Maybe her ways were unorthodox, she could have found a different way to make him see that wasn't so cruel and inhumane. He wouldn't listen to reason though, wouldn't hear a word unless it was through pain. He need to see with his own eyes about the government he followed, what lies they had told him.

She could have let the chips fall one by one, let them crash into the abyss until one day he finally understood. It wasn't in her nature though, wasn't in the way she planned. The rocks had to come crashing down on him, swallowing him whole before he could get his bearings. The only way to move on would to be have the place you once held dear in ruins.

His world needed to shatter. And it did. His mind was in ruins, and with no place to hide, he ran for his life. He didn't want to believe the words she spoke, but in some recessive part of his mind agreed with her. That might have made him more prone to run than anything.

Silence ticked on between the two cellmates long after the marine had left, leaving the air cold and awkward in a way that neither has felt in years. They didn't really want to speak about what had just happened, didn't really want to face the truth of the situation. There wasn't much to talk about anyways.

"Lu…," the male finally broke the silence after so many minutes. "Did you have to be so ruthless?" He knew very well what needed to be done, but he was a softy at heart and probably always would be. She envied that about him.

"Yes Ace, I did," she's smiling that empty smile of hers, one filled with despair its' hard to even look at it and not want to cry. "He'll be fine, one day, I promise. He needs that mythical worlds to crumble, needs to read between the lines of the world and finally take a stand to rebuild them. If he accepts the truth of the world he'll make it out alright."

"If he doesn't?" he asks, not quite sure he wants to know himself. He'll ask though, to keep her talking. It's the least he can do. Luna doesn't answer for a while, and he thinks she won't. He wonders if she even heard him, the look in her eyes are so far away that they seem to see through him.

"Then he was never meant to in the first place."

**Pages: 4**

**Words: 2163**

**Reviews:**

**Nala1220: Its no longer short!**

**G05: I'm trying. Have a lot going on right now and writing what I have in my head is difficult.**

**Blazin'Blue: Your stories greatly inspired me, but I swear after the initial kick off of Impel Down our stories do not look the same (I hope). I have a tendency to write what I last read, and to make it my own I don't usually post it - this one got away from me though. I usually try to wait a while until my own idea strikes me for the same type of story. I'm sorry that it resembles your story a lot - though that will change as it goes deeper in. I have put in the first chapter (or second?) that the other Cheshire stories and ****a secret**** greatly inspired me.**


	7. Chapter Six: Walking Towards a Fate

**Chapter Six: Walking Towards a Fate that is Not Ours**

Weeks must have passed, though they did not know. Truthfully it could have been days but felt like months and they wouldn't have known. They tried to catch up with each other, tried to keep the conversation going with one another but with ten years apart from them it was hard to find a balance. There just wasn't anything but the past connecting them, and even then the past wasn't something they really wanted to discuss. Luna had nothing to add to the conversation, having spent those ten years apart in Impel Down and Ace would eventually run out of stories. There just wasn't that much of a spark as there was when they were younger.

They cared about each other; that was something that would never fade. They would give life and limb for the other and damn the consequences. They loved each other, willing to go through Hell just to make the other happy. Ten years had gone by though, ten years they hadn't been able to speak to each other and ten years of memories stolen away from them. They couldn't bridge the gap that separated them for more than a decade.

The tension was released when they got yet another cellmate, a fishman named Jimbe. He was once a warlord but refused to fight in the war that was right around the corner. He has respect for not only Ace but Whitebeard as well and refused to stand against them in something like this. He was an unofficial ally to the Whitebeard Pirates, visiting every few months to give information they needed in return for the protection of Fishman Island.

Jimbe was interesting, not only keeping Luna's entertainment but Cheshire's as well. It wasn't the kind of entertainment she usually felt, one which took a deep grab at her soul and whispered in her ear to destroy this person's everything. Luna swore the voice off long ago, making a pack with Cheshire that she could break anyone she wanted if her brothers and their crews were off the hook. They kept to that deal, and anyone who ticked her off enough was lucky to have their sanity intact when she was done with them. Even in this Hell people ticked her off and while she could no longer use her devil fruit abilities to take care of them, it didn't stop her mindset.

Jimbe was a man of honor and dignity, and wasn't able to be easily gained respect from. He was loyal to his kind and did everything he could to have equal rights between the people above and the fishmen below. It was something she could admire, a drive she could put her faith in. It was by far no little task, he might not even be able to do it in his lifetime, but he was willing to put his life at stake to help it along. It was something she respected, knowing that everything could be for naught but still doing it anyways because it was the right thing to do.

In a different life, she could see them becoming friends. Alice had fallen down a hole before and stumbled through a door, and entered a world that didn't seem to be hers but was. Maybe it was very much like them, having been able to meet in a different situations if things went differently.

She grew a bond with him in their time together in their cell, and it was kinship to a degree. He was willing to put his life at stake for his species and his morals while she was willing to put everything on the line for the ones she cared about. She wondered if he would become her crewmate when she got out of here. She would have loved it if he did.

Cheshire didn't know how long it had been since Garp, or anyone for that matter, had visited them since Jimbe had join in this little cell party of theirs. It still wasn't long enough though because before they were ready guards had made themselves known to the floor and were walking their way to the cell they shared. Both Cheshire and Luna had known what was coming, knew before she had even seen her brother's face in the dimly lit cage. It didn't make anything easier though, didn't make anything less painful. She felt her heart being ripped out of chest as the guards unchained her big brother, guns at the ready in case he tried to escape before he was executed.

She caught his eye before he was taken from her sight, a clear message in her eyes: _You are not allowed to die._

They wouldn't give these monsters the satisfaction of her despair, her aching heart burning in her soul. She wouldn't rise to their bait, wouldn't rise to the title they gave her as a demon. They were messing with her, making their movements and intentions clear in the way they acted. Even as they escorted him out of the cell and towards the elevator, one guard remained.

His eyes gave her the creeps, as if they were undressing her and seeing her bare. She didn't give any indication of her thought process, staring at the man with a stare that would make you lose your nerve and run away from her. He wasn't really paying attention to her face though, his wandering eyes gazing at the unclothed skin that his lust-filled orbs seemed drawn to.

It made her feel disgusting.

Another guard came to take her away with the one that was making eyes at her. She didn't resist as they tugged her out of the cell that had become her safe haven, didn't register the worried eyes of the potential crew member. She only gave him a small, sad smile, her head nodding as if in confirmation, and was dragged away before he could say a word of protest.

Before they were able to kill her off like they had planned, one would need to undress her. The uniforms were reusable, and though she did not wear the uniform, they weren't going to allow her to die with anything. It was too good for criminals, they had said. They were going to be sent to real Hell with nothing.

The man that was somewhat decent left to go get the medicine that would put her to sleep for entirety, leaving her alone with the man that was giving her the creeps. Cheshire had long since retreated to their mindscape, leaving Luna who was greatly weakened by the seastone around her defenseless. She was locked to the wall, unable to move. She felt his greasy hands on her clothes, felt the way his fingers wrapped themselves around her hips to keep her unmovable. He ripped off her clothes, the sound of the tears echoing in the soundproof, camera-free room. She knows that he is too much of a coward to do anything, knows that he will most likely stare at her naked form and nothing more. He won't risk it, the other guard sure to come back soon.

It doesn't make the fear any less reasonable though.

**xXXxXXx**

When the somewhat decent guard returns she is naked, staring at him unabashedly. They have done this thousands times before, lead thousands prisoners who just wouldn't die to this room naked and she will not be the last. She is lead to a room full of people wearing white lab coats, a table laid bare for her death. The place reeks of it, the smell of the dead is in this room and it causes her stomach to roll and churn. She feels like she is going to faint, the feeling seeping into her skin and it feels as if she will never be clean again.

She wasn't planning to die right after they took Ace, wasn't planning to die at all. There wasn't much she could do here, and Cheshire didn't want to face the outside world right now. She was on her own. She would survive, like she had always done. So when they placed her on the bed and started taking a needle to her skin she was ready, ready to either die or make a comeback. The others, after making sure she was strapped down tightly and unable to move, left the room and only one scientist remained.

The doctor – if you could call them such – brought the needle to her skin at the crook of her elbow and was seconds from breaking skin and pumping the drugs that would tell her brain to shut off, would make her heart stop beating and her lungs from processing air. The second those drugs were in her system she was done for. Luna couldn't afford that.

Being desperate and lucky were one of her talents, the worse situations turning for the better for her. The doctor made a mistake of getting too close to her, made himself in easy reach and all she had to do was break the chains that they thought could hold her. Faster than he could recognize a threat, she had him in a headlock. She grabbed her other hand, and putting it on his head, she twisted. Whoever the unnamed person was fell to the floor – another casualty of this place.

Luna, not Cheshire, didn't hesitate to rummage around the dead man's pockets in search of the key for her shackles. She found it in his front pocket, the key easily sliding into her grasp and finding its way to the hole it was made for. There was a _click_, the hinges opening up, and a _clank_ as they fell to the floor. Cheshire came alive in her mind, a beautiful tinkling of laughter making its way out of her own lips because of her happiness. The shackles that once held her to the ground was removed, allowing her for once to be free. The weight of the world couldn't have felt heavier than those cuffs, her once steady form straightening because there was nothing holding her back for doing so. Her muscles stretched, her tendons straining from the years held in place. Bones popped in relief, a relaxed sensation settling over her sore body.

Blinking around dazedly, as if she hasn't really opened her eyes in years, she looks around for any clothes. When she doesn't find any she takes the white lab coat from the man she killed, slipping it on to cover any parts not meant to be seen. She goes out the way she knows no one will be waiting, her head high as if she knew what she was doing. Making her way back the path she came was easier said than done, the turns making it hard to find the cell she came from. It would be a hot day in Hell before she left Jimbe in this place to suffer for who knows how long.

Luna found her way to his cell eventually, unlocking his cell and his chains in the process. When she saw Crocodile – a man she usually paid no mind too and had been sentenced here a year or so ago by the marines to save face because a man of Whitebeard had taken him down – she decided to get him out of here as well. She knew his abilities well enough and he could help her in return for getting him out of this prison.

They made their way to Level Five point Five, stopping to see a friend of her father who was known as Iva-chan to her. He knew she was coming, just as she had known he would have been waiting for her. Iva had heard a rumor from a marine base they had raided a few years ago that they had captured the daughter of Dragon. Iva didn't bother to check in with Dragon to see what he wanted to do and instead let himself be caught in order to find her. He searched the Levels one by one, but was never able to make it to Level Six because of his resources. Iva figured if the rumor was true though, she would be in Level Six and waited for the day she would break herself out.

He handed them a change of clothes, already waiting to head to the surface. If Luna was moving so early in the game than he knew as well as she did. The world was waiting for their answer, it was time to give it to them.

Breaking out of Impel Down would never be easy, but it would probably stay in her mind even after she died and gone to Hell. It was something no one had done before, even if the Shiki the Golden Lion had broken himself out. It happened in chaos, the guards being unprepared for the out lash and were mowed over by the prisoners that had spent years in their cells.

For the first time in a decade, Luna breathes in the fresh air of the sea, the saltiness moving through her lungs and letting her know she is in fact alive. It's a treasured feeling, one she doesn't think she will ever regret. She knows she can't, for this one feeling is the proof she is free from the chains that kept her there for several years.

She's on her way home, to the ocean.

Now she just needed to make sure her family was waiting for her, both healthy and safe and _not_ on the verge of being executed.

The welcome home party would have to wait a bit more.

**Page: 4**

**Word: 2274**

**Reviews:**

**Blazin'Blue: Yeah, that has to be one of my favorite scenes to date. Sadly, while the war is coming up, I don't go into too much detail. (Mainly because I don't feel like re-watching those scenes just to see my favorite character die) However it does give a kick start to Luna becoming a Whitebeard pirate. I hope you have enjoyed this revamped version as well :)**

**ScarletRoofs: He isn't, but there won't be a scene for his reaction for a while. I want to establish Cheshire's place in everything before moving towards how Garp feels about everything. Sabo doesn't even know his sister is alive yet, and while they are both family members, Sabo comes first in my mind.**

**G05: I don't try to be hypocritical (I hate hypocrites), but I do understand the need for longer chapters. Sometimes chapters are just too long though so I'd rather have mine be somewhere between 3-6 pages long. At least two thousands words.**


	8. Chapter Seven: A Dreamland of Horror

**Chapter Seven: A Dreamland of Horror**

He doesn't think he has ever felt such despair before. He can't get close enough to get to his little brother and he's been so close to execution, to have his head rolling down the platform while they can't even get near him. They can see the tears in his eyes, can see the desperation filling him for everything to just stop, the words on his lips to just leave him behind and stop this foolishness. They can't though, their pride and little brother's life is at stake and if they leave now they can never look at themselves in the mirror again.

They have to get to him, has to save him. They're willing to give their lives for their younger brother. They want to continue their adventures together, to see the world, and have Ace be free. They want to unchain the shackles that Ace has placed on himself, wants to carry the burden he has. He doesn't deserve to be caged, it doesn't make sense for him to be. Ace is supposed to be free. That's who he is.

Ace, who has always smiled, who has always laughed, who has always lived to the fullest, has had thoughts that no one should have. There were moments before they became crew members that suggested he had thoughts about how his life was meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but his brother Sabo had always been there to push it back, to remind him there was something worth living for.

It was a girl, a sister they had never met.

The Whitebeard Pirates didn't learn about her until recently, a day the brothers hadn't been prepared for. They didn't learn much from them, only that she had been taken from home and was most likely dead. The two brothers had continued to search though, the years going by in a haze of panic. A year ago, when they had joined, it was after the incident but former members of the Spade Pirates said at on May Fifth, one month before they joined the Whitebeard Pirates, Ace and Sabo had been frantic. Panic beyond the normal degree had been in their eyes, and the strain of being captain and first mate respectively had never been harder on them when the crew could tell all they wanted to do was run. Run towards the open sea and begin the desperate search for a girl they didn't even know if she was alive.

A picture of a seven year old girl was all they had to go off of, a distant memory of the years they had spent together with her. It was useless in the end, even if she was alive. She would have changed and grown, probably no longer had that signature smile of hers and the light in her eyes had probably died. If they had ever met her on their journey, they might never had recognized her. Who's to say she even remembered them? The memories could have faded or been wiped away, or she could have had a concussion and forgotten like so many other people did.

Worst case of scenario, she could have avoided the brothers. Who knows how ten years had changed a person?

Just as the damned sword came down on Ace's neck, who wasn't even bothering to fight back, a ruckus was made above them. Debris fell around them, making it clear something was falling and not just their imagination. When they looked up they saw a battleship of the marines dropping from the ice coverage that was created by Kuzan, the admiral Aokiji. Prisoners, probably from Impel Down, rained down on the battlefield as well as the man who dared to try challenge Pops a decade ago. Jimbe, a fishman ally they hadn't been in contact for a while, was with them.

If Marco had been looking just a little bit more to the left, just a little more of a widened view, he would have seen a figure racing towards the execution platform from the air. He would have seen the fury on her face and known she wasn't a simple no body of the war. If Marco had simply _looked_, he would have seen the soulmate he never had.

He would have seen the moon.

**xXXxXXx**

It was blurred, the emotions she held. Nothing was simple and nothing was the same. It hurt more than she thought it would. Her skin burned and her bones ached, as if she was an old woman that couldn't get up by herself. She was supposed to be in her prime, the years that she could take on anyone and live to tell the tale. With the way her bones were acting now though, with the way her muscles were moving she might as well have been one hundred years old. She felt disgusted with herself.

She made it though, her leg slamming into everyone on the platform to get them away from the brother that meant the world to her. She was sure if they had been a center meter closer, a little bit harder, her leg would have broken. Her body had become fragile in her time at Impel Down, and while she was strong, her body wasn't used to moving. She had stayed in the same position for ten years, she was surprised she could move at all. Her bones and figure had grown up in that cramped space, her spin curling slightly to accommodate her slouch. It didn't matter, she had her will and her strength and for right now that was enough to get her through this war.

She could worry about what those ten years did to her later. Now wasn't the time.

After she had broken Ace out of his shackles – something that made her blood boil in rage; her brother shouldn't be in the same chains she had been, her brother shouldn't be caged, she wouldn't allow him to be – she made sure they were on the ground and running before anyone could even see their escape. They ran and ran towards the one place that felt like home to them. The sea.

It was a place of outcasts, of freedom, of living until you die. It was a place where one could call home no matter what had happened in the past, what will happen in the future. It didn't matter anymore, the great blue just before them.

The marines shouted for their blood, screams echoing in the wind and they were so very close to their destination. Just a little further, she told herself. Just a little further. They could make it. Not much further and they would be home free, out onto the ocean where they belonged and which was home for them all. It was only a matter of time.

Nothing ever went right for her though.

Seconds away from reaching the sea line, marines had finally gotten smart and caught up with them. Guns blazed and blood sprayed, the battlefield catching up with them. In some distant part of her mind, she compared it to running from the past; it always caught up with you. They were still too far away from their home, the place they belonged. They wouldn't make it in time, and she ached to just let go of the chains that she kept on her. Luna had no reason to hold back, no reason to not run wild. In fact, the situation around her was encouraging her to do so.

Deep in the walls of her mind and heart, the barriers so thick that not even Whitebeard's earthquake could get through them, laid a box. In the box was a feeling she had locked inside, an emotion that had been chained and kept from her since her own wrapped around her body, the cell's door closing with a final _clung_, so many years ago. There were so many locks on it, all with a different key and she couldn't break out of it. It tortured her, seeing it every day, knowing what was in there, being so close to brushing her fingers against it and not being able to just let it free.

She couldn't break the chains by herself. Couldn't allow her to when something so essential to her being would hurt her in Hell more than it could help her.

Luna wanted many thing, wanted to hear the laughter of her own lips long forgotten, see the sun in a new color and feel the grass under her feet. She wanted to hear the wind cry and smell the salty ocean which had always been out of reach. She wanted the shackles to be rotten and eroded, wanted to fly so high in the clouds no one could ever hope to get her down.

More than anything, Luna wanted to be free.

Suddenly nothing mattered, the earth beneath her feet was gone and she felt like she was falling, but even so she could see it. The little box that had been caged away with her in Impel Down rattled, shook with a furious rage she had not seen in herself for so long. It screamed in sorrow, begging to be let out and for the first time in over a decade, the metal bindings finally _moved_. She was no longer constricted, could finally breath and it felt as it everything was as it should be.

Luna smiled as chaos raged across the battlefield as a new competitor entered the chest board.

Finally, they were no longer separated.

Wonderland had finally been left to change the battlefield, Cheshire's own rules coming into play.

They made the game, and they would win.

**xXXxXXx**

The once harsh battlefield left the soldiers' vision, a mythical land taking place instead. This world was covered in darkness, the sky an eerie red color even in the middle of the day. Instead of the sun shining brightly above their heads, a crescent moon grinned at them from up ahead. The ground was no longer made of cobble and dirt, a mushy substance taking its place. Buildings that rose to the sky were now trees glaring down at them, their vines wrapping around the marines closest to them. The sea was no longer the bright blue green it had been, a purple taking over the waves.

In the assuring chaos, a figure of a teenage girl stood in the middle of it all. She cracked in madness, an insane smile taking over her lips and crazed look coming into her eyes. Her laughter seemed to echo the war, even as pirates and marines battled themselves in confusion. It seemed to ring in their ears, the tinkling of bells within the wind haunted them even as they turned deaf.

Pawns were what they were, something to be used and thrown away when they were no longer needed. The king would control everything, deeming what needed to be done and if the pawn was worthy of being such anymore. He could move anything as he wished, move anywhere across the chess board and commanded your every move. It matter not if you were injure or dead, he could use any means – even as the pile of corpses stacked around him. The pawns didn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

The game only ended when someone took the head of the king.

_'The King is dead!'_ was a phrase many hoped to hear in the light of madness, one glimmer that would never come because the king was the figure head, someone you wouldn't mess with unless you wanted to get you and everyone you knew killed. It didn't matter if everyone hated the king to the depths of their souls, they would follow him without question. He was meant to protect the kingdom, and in return the kingdom was to follow his order to the letter.

_'All hail the King!'_ would forever ring in their ears, it would never fade and would be with them for the rest of their life. Pawns have no meaning if they are not used. Their life becomes a half-existence, something that doesn't matter. In the end everyone is a pawn, used by the retched king.

A King's rule was absolute.

Cheshire was upon the throne with a crown on her head, and she wasn't the queen.

**Pages: 4**

**Words: 2060**

**Reviews of old version:**

**Blazin'Blue: I have to agree. Garp just needs to understand not everything is black and white. I do believe that he knows it, in his subconscious, but he has closed his eyes and plugged his ears to the truth of the world. However to be fair to Garp, he did let Luffy pass. I blame him for interfering with Marco's rescue though. Shanks showed up late because he was dealing with Kaido, who was going to try to take on Whitebeard in the middle of the war... you won't see him at all. Sorry. He won't be showing up for a while.**

**Bealuffy: It just got a lot better.**

**Me: You can ask, you probably won't receive though. The longest I'm going right now is six pages, four thousands words. Other stories have a lot more, I just don't want to post them until I'm sure of where they are heading. You can see the list of stories on my bio though if you want.**

**lolkitty: Nope, since he would have gotten the Mera-mera no mi, he's not getting a devil fruit. Someone had to fish them out of the sea after all.**


	9. Chapter Eight: Introductory

**WARNING! WARNING! GO BACK AND RE-READ THE STORY! I RE-WROTE EVERYTHING! IF YOU CONTINUE TO READ YOU WILL HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS GOING ON!**

**Chapter Eight: Introductory**

Marco wasn't quite sure what happened during the war. The last thing he knew was that a ship had been falling from the sky, and Ace and an unknown person was rushing towards the sea at lightning speeds. He was determined to make sure they got out of there fast, but before he could marines had been at every side of them. Darkness ranged and a blood red sky was the last thing he could remember before blacking out. When he woke up again he and the other pirates were far away from Marine Ford, all alive, if not injured, and on their respective ships.

Everyone seemed to be unconscious, even Pops. They were laid out carefully on the deck, all of their wounds treated and wrapped. The ship had signs of burn marks, but not the disaster it had been at the war. Judging from the healing rate of his brothers as well as the wounds of their bodies, Marco would guess that it had been anywhere from a three days to two weeks since they received them. Who had taken care of them? What had happened after he blacked out? He couldn't remember a thing.

A few minutes later the other commanders awoke, Pops shortly afterwards. Their other siblings remained asleep, and they didn't feel like waking them up. They compared their memories and found that it was much the same – they all blacked out after the red sky had appeared. When they looked upon their brothers and didn't see the one they went through Hell for, they started to panic and look around the ship. A moment later they found Ace, the grinning kid they all knew and love, free and unshackled and smiling like there was no tomorrow.

He was up on the figure head, smiling and laughing with another person. They couldn't see her face, as her back was turned towards them, but they could make out her figure. She was well endowed and had a slight slouch to her posture. Her aura didn't reek of insecurities or fear – in fact it was the opposite. She commanded respect and radiated power, something Marco had come to associate with great leaders and reminded him strongly of Roger – how there was just something there right out of reach he could never grasp. The slouch was more like it had been trained that way, growing into that form because of a cramped space. She had long black hair, singed at the ends and a little up. She would probably have to cut a good six inches off, but it would still leave her with mid-back hair. Her clothes were tattered and ragged, torn in place that probably would make a normal person blush in embarrassment. She didn't though, not an ounce of her body said shame in any way.

Scar littered her arms, deep gashes that hurt just looking at them. They were from a type of hard material – leather probably. Most likely from a whip if the angle was correct. Her arms weren't the worst though, her wrists and neck having to be the most horrific thing to look at. There were deep marks, engraved into her skin as if it had grown around something unmovable. It brought something out in Marco, a deep growl settling into his chest and making his insides roar with rage. He surprised himself with the unexpected reaction, never having had this anger rear its ugly head with someone he didn't know.

The woman – because this was no girl, not anymore – said something to Ace and he turned around, seeing his fellow commanders and captain waiting there, staring at the scene before them as if they were in a dream. He smiled dazzling, his eyes lighting up in a way they haven't seen before, and jumped off the head of the ship to rush over to them. They forgot about the strange person on their ship for a second, happy to have their little brother alive and well and happy. They hadn't seen that smile before.

Ace tugged them over to his former seat next to the woman, and called for her to come down. There was no response but Ace didn't look concern and simply backed up a bit. They decided to do the same, giving this person some space. There was no sound when she came down, and it actually took them a moment to register she was there in front of them in the first place.

She stood in front of them, a smile playing at her lips. Her eyes were half-lidden, much like his own. They were a startling blue, much like the sky. If he was to compare his flames and her orbs, her eyes would have shown brighter than his fire ever could have. She was pale, almost sickly so. She seemed petite, her bones brittle and her form smaller than his own. She was a beauty, like an enteral flower that never ceased to bloom.

"This is my sister, Luna," Ace announced, his smile wide and almost seemed to hurt his face, but it was filled with so much joy that he didn't seem to mind. He wrapped an arm around her delicate frame, pulling her to his side and Marco had to hide his clenching fist in order to not punch his brother in the face. He didn't know where this reaction was coming from, and didn't really like the way his thoughts were turning towards his own brother for a person he had never met.

Luna, a beautiful pearl in the night sky, waved a friendly hand in greeting and wrapped an arm around herself, as if hiding herself from view. She smiled a grin very similar to the person standing next to her, but hers seemed held back, a strain around her cheeks that hadn't been there before when she had been alone with him. His eyes were trained on her, his keen senses taking in every movement she made and committing it to memory. He had to know everything about her, had to know she was safe.

The Phoenix always soared with the sky, even when the moon was high in the air.

**xXXxXXx**

Whitebeard looked at the child that should have known him from the beginning. He could tell the moment he laid eyes on her who she was. The little girl in the photo was his daughter, the daughter he thought he would never know.

She had grown, he realized. She had more scars than she should have had, and an older look in her eyes than her age should have allowed. Her smile, while real, was strained and forced. She seemed to have forgotten how to smile. She was covered in grime, clothes not befitting for her persona. She kept all her move deliberate, the arm around her stomach was a way to protect her vital organs and the hand in the air was a way to quickly turn into a fist if someone she didn't know got close enough.

He was sharper than what most people might have thought. Whitebeard saw the slight turn of her mouth, the inhale of the air around her, and the slight twitch in her eyebrow. He saw how the fingers on her right hand flinched, as if reaching for something that wasn't there. She never once let her guard down around them. Whitebeard only saw her smile when they were far away, and she was only with Ace.

It saddened him. One as bright as Roger, the same smile and charisma that he had set in a female body yet so afraid to let itself out because of the world around them. She didn't have to say a word of her past, her eyes spoke for itself. The electrifying royal blue was darkened with shadows of the past, never really letting itself go even as they hid themselves among the pupil. They hid in the strands of color, blending itself until they were the eye itself. The secrets of a past they weren't privy to were well hidden, away from prying minds.

Whitebeard wondered if he was the only one who could see the dark shadows of the girl before them. Could his sons see it? Did they see the weight she was carrying around, trying not to fall down under the weight of the world? Did they notice the unsettling look in her eyes? Did they sense the madness that rolled off her in waves?

Could they know what made this girl herself?

This girl, her sanity barely intact but still fighting for control, was still his daughter at the end of the day. They would help her swim out of the insanity that had become her world, they would dive deep into the darkness of which she had only known until now to help her reach the surface of their universe. Once she had risen above the waves they wouldn't let go, wouldn't let her drown herself in the madness that consumed her. She would breathe without fear of turning into something she wasn't.

Whitebeard promised this to himself.

She would no longer be alone.

**xXXxXXx**

How long had it been since she had human, civilized conversation with other beings? It must have been the last time she spoke with her brothers, their love – though rough – had wrapped around her and she held onto those memories even as they faded. It had hurt, losing the little things she had loved. Under the gaze of the man who called her brothers his sons, she felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She didn't have to hide anything from this man, would never have to because he would accept everything she had. Luna could see why Ace devoted himself to this man, gave him the title he hated even thinking about.

He was worthy to be a parent – he would never take anything they weren't willing to give.

Whitebeard's eyes were opened, nothing deceiving his intentions and revealed his open mindedness for all to see. She could tell he sensed it, the danger she reeked and the bloodlust that was hidden from all, even her brother. He didn't look away in disgust, didn't turn her away at the door. While she could never follow anyone – even if she and Cheshire approved of him – she could see herself on this ship.

She could see herself calling this place _home_.

It was nice, having a place to belong. She wondered how long she could stay though. Cats didn't do well being told what to do, and the most she could hold Cheshire back would be a year – if that. If she was being realistic, she could only hold herself back for a month. She hated being told what to do – she wasn't meant to be a follower.

Luna hoped beyond hope that she could hold herself back for a few months. She wanted a place to belong, and even a cat got sick of being thrown out onto the streets.

**Pages: 3**

**Words: 1840**

**The explanation will be at the end of the next chapter. (I counted wrong, okay!)**


	10. Chapter Nine: A Place to Belong

**Chapter Nine: A Place to Belong**

"Would you like to join my crew? Become my daughter."

Ace didn't hear a word before then, didn't see the signs that most saw. He tried to keep an eye out, tried to see beyond what was in front of him. If things had been different he would have just noticed, he wouldn't have to try so hard to read his own sister. He wouldn't look at her and see a stranger that meant the world to him. He wouldn't see a person that was never her. He hated it.

He did know Luna well enough from their time as kids to know that one thing would never change. Luna hated being told what to do. It wouldn't matter if she respected and loved you till the ends of the earth, she couldn't stand being a subordinate. It was in her genetic code to be a leader, to not follow orders from anyone. He couldn't imagine her bowing her head to anyone without a good reason.

He didn't think ten years in Impel Down could change that in her.

Before he could warn Pops off, to not get the crew's hopes up and be set up for disappointment, his sister discretely put a hand on his arm, stopping any words that might have passed his lips. Ace looks at her, startled. What was she thinking? She hated being bound to anything, only choosing to interact with people she hand-picked. Only so much could have changed in ten years, and one of her core characteristic weren't one of them.

The look in her eyes said it all though, the sparkling blue dying stood out a message only he seemed to be able to read. She was tired. Tired of running, tired of fighting. She didn't want to lead right now, wanted to take a rest before jumping into the battlefield before her. Luna didn't want to be the one others looked to for once, she wanted to be taken care of – even if only for a little while. She wanted to rest, to just lay down her head and forget everything that had ever been.

He knew she couldn't though, just like he couldn't run from a fight. It was vital for her to never give up. Whether it was from fighting, the past, or just not running away she had to do it. She wanted to take a break though, let her mind and body rest before she forced herself to get moving and start on her journey once more.

He couldn't say no to her, couldn't deny her the thing she had wanted since they were children. Just like Whitebeard, just like himself, just like everyone on board she had wanted a family to call her own. Even if she had to build it herself from the ground up. Ten years in Impel Down didn't change anything.

She wanted a place she could come back to, to rest and just be herself. Be the child she never got to be. He couldn't take that away from her. He wouldn't.

It was that reason alone his protest stopped dead in their tracks, his body going slack under her hand. He wouldn't deny her something she had wanted for so long, wasn't about to say no if she accepted. He knew though, knew deep in his heart and soul, it wouldn't last long. Luna was born to lead and have an adventures on her own – sooner or later should would leave for the sea on her own.

He wasn't sure he would ever be ready for it, but he could at least give her a home if anything went south.

Luna, dear sweet, broken Luna gave him a crooked smile, looking as if she would break to his eyes. She wouldn't though, her will too strong to ever be torn down for long. Her stance changed, her hand falling away from his arm to her side. Tendons and muscles relaxed and stretched out, allowing her to breath. Chin set in determination that couldn't be bowed to anyone, and eyes so fierce even the great Whitebeard would have felt astonished by what was held in those azure eyes.

"I can only agree to one of those offers, Ossan."

The deck seemed to their breath, the commanders taking on guarded expressions. It wasn't uncommon for one of their to-be siblings to deny their father's offer – one of the very ones stood right next to her in fact – however it was rare for one to only accept half of it. They didn't really know what the unknown person on their ship would decide, and were wary to see what her decision would be.

"And what is that, brat?"

"I will become your daughter, but I cannot be a Whitebeard Pirate."

The deck seemed to tense even more, not many people would deny an offer to be a Whitebeard Pirate and most who would weren't interested in it in the first place. To accept one you would naturally accept the other, it went hand in hand with the job offer. There just wasn't a way to take one without the other.

"Why is that?"

Luna, Cheshire, whoever was in control at that moment smirked so widely that Ace briefly wondered if it was a trait of the original or the parasite.

"Because the Pirate King has no captain."

Whitebeard laughed, one so loud his awaken child had to grab hold of something to make sure they didn't fall over. It was certainly unusual to see someone turn down his offer, but not uncommon. To have someone deny one and accept the other was rare, but to have that as their reason was unheard of. Newgate could almost see it, their images overlapping in his mind as he stared at the blue eyes that were his daughter's. They held the same look in them, their smiles identical to his late rival's.

He could see her becoming King.

"You have yourself a deal, brat!"

He wondered at the irony of the world.

**xXXxXXx**

She accepted, she actually accepted.

Even though it wasn't how Marco had planned this meeting going down, he couldn't deny it wasn't what he thought it would be. He was sure she would have denied their offer, would have headed out the second they headed for a new island and he was half tempted to beg Pops to not go to an island soon just so he could have had time to convince her to join. He had never been more glad that he didn't have to.

She might not have actually joined the crew, but being a daughter of Whitebeard was basically the same thing. She would be family, would have a connection to them and would allow him to keep tabs on her at all times. He could hunt down whoever harmed her without needing to justify his actions and it wouldn't be suspicious if he was the one to comfort her in her darkest hour. He could be around her without needing a reason to, now that she was his sister.

…he should probably disown himself.

**Pages: 3**

**Words: 1185**

**Technically, this is actually a three-chapter update. I wanted to give you something new and decided I would give you three chapters for not updating for so long. I will admit, this is shorter than the ones previous to it, but I couldn't really think what else to put here. Marco does not know he is in love with Luna, he knows that he feels very over protective of her though. Everything will be explained, I'm just not sure when.**

**Unlike the last time I updated, I gained a life (sadly). I don't get home until five most days, nine on others. My only free days are the weekends, Mondays, and Tuesdays. This means I might not be updating as often as I would like, so I have decided to give you longer chapters in spaced out sessions. This summer I should be free (I have fifty days of wake up left, so hurray!) unless my mom wants me to find classes to go to (she doesn't want me staying home all summer).**

**If any of you want to go check out my profile, I have a lot of stories set up and in the process of writing if you want to go check them out. They're summaries, and haven't been put on fanfiction or wattpad (I think only one is on wattpad), and those are the stories I'm working on behind the scenes. So if you're wondering why I haven't updated, its because I was also working on those.**

**I hope you have enjoyed, I'll update when I can, and I love you all.**

**There's a follow button, a favorite button, and a review button just below me. Click on it. Do not just put 'please udpate' - that doesn't help.**

**Love you all! This has been Night :)**


	11. Dear Stars

Dear **Stars**,

I have some bad news and some somewhat good news for you guys. Depending on how you feel about me and my stories, will depend on how you take it.

Darkened Moonlight, A Phoenix Reborn, A Loss and a Gain, Cracked Eyes, Eyes of the Sun, Four Unlikely Friends, Cheshire in Jail, You Weren't Always like This, and The Book of Fate will all be re-written – hopefully somewhere in the next three or so months. Because of this, there is a chance that I will be taking down the stories for some time – whether it be the week or so before they are posted again or simply wishing for a new clean start with it. If I go for the second option, this will, unfortunately, have the side effect of no longer allowing you to follow the updates of said stories. If you are a follower of me, it will be of no issue. This is simply a warning of what could happen and not a guarantee.

That was the **good** news. Bad news it next, so be prepared.

In four days' time, I will be having surgery on my leg for the fifteenth time. I'll be spending one day in the hospital, and unless something goes horribly wrong, I will be returning the next day.

Now, this doesn't really affect you in any way. In fact, you probably don't care – and I completely understand. The next clincher is what might really slow down stories.

Along with my stories, I've taken up the task of accomplishing a lot this summer. I'm barely over a week out of school and I was so bored I made a to-do list to keep my summer productive. Many of these things probably don't consider you, but for those curious enough I'm going to quickly list them; picking up the guitar again, get my drawing skills up, get my handwriting at least somewhat presentable, and preparing myself for the AP classes I'm taking in the Fall.

The last one is the real crucial detail in getting the stories up and moving. As much as fanfiction is my life (and it is – I read it 24/7 and come up with half-a-dozen ideas every hour of a new story), it will probably not take me anywhere in the future. My goal in life is to be an animator, and as I enter my last year of high school, I'm more determined now than ever.

My first priority will always be school, and when school stops being the priority it will be my job. The second priority is art as it has been my first and only true love. My third priority is, however, my stories.

I love them, you will never know the passion and plans that I make up every time one is born. Even now, two years, almost three after the birth of _Darkened Moonlight_ I am still re-writing, re-planning, and coming up with new ideas. The ones that had been in my head even longer? They're even more so.

There is a poll on my profile, questioning which one would you like to see worked on first. I hope you vote because it will certainly keep me focused on one and not be jumping around from each story half a million times a day.

I am sorry to say that this was no an update. I'm sorry to say that it was not what you were hoping for. But I pray to the goddess that when I finally get the finished product in process you will love it as much as I do.

**Love,**

NightHunterDeath


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